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2018 March

About the March

Women's March Oakland 2018 was a rally and march in partnership with the Bay Area chapter of youth organization March for Our Future. We joined 22 other California chapters in hosting rallies on the anniversary of the historic Women’s March. Our anniversary event focused on voter education and participation as well as uplifting tomorrow’s leaders, with the theme, “Hear Our Vote: March for Our Future.”

This nonpartisan, peaceful event gave people from across the East Bay and beyond the opportunity to activate their communities, engage and support youth, and publicly proclaim that women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights in line with the Unity Principles.

Speakers & performers

Alisha Shaik

Alisha Shaik is a proud and unapologetic Muslim-Indian-American. She is national co-chair of March for Our Future, and founder and president of Interfaith for Youth. Through her TEDx talk, “Living the Reality as an American Muslim,” and her work as an activist, she strives to raise awareness about Islamophobia and immigrant rights. Alisha is also passionate about fighting against sexual violence in minority communities through educating and empowering women of color.

Betty Yee

Only the 10th woman in California history to be elected to statewide office, Betty Yee was sworn in as State Controller in January 2015. Betty has long been committed to supporting women and others from diverse communities pursuing careers in public service. She has volunteered for organizations that provide leadership training and mentoring including the National Women’s Political Caucus, California Women Lead, Emerge California and EMILY’s List. Betty also co-founded the Asian Pacific Youth Leadership Project to expose California high school youth to the public service, public policy and political arenas. A San Francisco native, Betty earned her bachelor’s in sociology from UC Berkeley, and holds a master’s in public administration.

Emma's Revolution

Emma's Revolution is the dynamic, award-winning activist duo of Pat Humphries & Sandy O, whose songs have been sung for the Dalai Lama, covered by Holly Near and praised by Pete Seeger. Newly based in Oakland, Emma’s Revolution delivers the energy and strength of their convictions in an uprising of truth and hope for these tumultuous times. Emma’s Revolution has been featured at progressive events around the country and beyond, and their music has been featured on “All Things Considered” and “Democracy Now!”

Kat Taylor

Kat Taylor works in service of restoring social justice and environmental well-being to build a more equitable and inclusive world. She is co-Founder and co-CEO of Beneficial State Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution and certified B Corporation in Oakland whose mission is to bring beneficial banking to low-income communities in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. Kat is also a founding director of TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation, dedicated to inspiring a sustainable food system through ranching, training, tours, research, and school food and garden programs.

Kitty Tsui

Kitty Tsui is a poet activist and an activist poet. Her 1983 groundbreaking "Words of a Woman Who Breathes Fire" was the first book by a Chinese American lesbian; her second "Breathless – Erotica" won the Firecracker Alternative Book Award. Collected in over 80 anthologies worldwide, she has written for magazines and newsweeklies. Midsummer Night’s Press and Sinister Wisdom will reprint "Words of a Woman Who Breathes Fire" as a Sapphic Classic along with new poems, "Nice Chinese Girls Don't," in January 2019. Out since 1973, she was one of the original members of Unbound Feet, the first Asian American women’s performance group.

Lara Kiswani

Lara Kiswani is a Palestinian born in the Bay Area. She is executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center and a lecturer at San Francisco State University in the College of Ethnic Studies. She got her master’s in education with an emphasis on equity and social justice, focusing on Arab youth, language and culture. As a student organizer, she helped to establish the Middle East South Asia Studies program, co-founded Students for Justice in Palestine, and organized with Third World Forum at UC Davis.

Lateefah Simon

Lateefah Simon is president of the Akonadi Foundation, and has over 20 years of experience advancing opportunities for communities of color and low-income communities in the Bay Area. Prior to joining Akonadi, she served as program director for the Rosenberg Foundation, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, and executive director of the Young Women’s Freedom Center in San Francisco. Lateefah has received numerous awards for her work, including the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. In 2016, she was elected to serve District 7 on the BART Board of Directors and appointed to the California State University’s Board of Trustees.

Leila Mottley

Leila Mottley is a 15-year-old native Oakland author with an interest in utilizing poetry as protest. She attends Oakland School for the Arts and has been published in various journals. Leila has read at 2 City of Oakland Cultural Dialogue meetings, House of Black Women, and other events as the 2017 Oakland Vice Youth Poet Laureate. Currently, she is working as the founder of Lift Every Voice, a youth-led art advocacy workshop series surrounding around youth incarceration.

Lisa (Tiny) Gray-Garcia

Lisa (Tiny) Gray-Garcia is a formerly unhoused, incarcerated poverty scholar, revolutionary journalist, lecturer, poet, visionary, teacher, and co–founder of POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE/PoorNewsNetwork. With her mama Dee she co-founded Escuela de la gente/PeopleSkool, as well as the Po Poets Project/Poetas POBREs Proyecto (co-founded with Leroy Moore), welfareQUEENs, the Theatre of the POOR/Teatro de los pobres, and Hotel Voices. In 2011, she co-launched The Homefulness Project and Deecolonize Academy. She is also the author of "Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America," and her second book will be released in 2018-19.

Maria Trujillo

Maria Trujillo has served as an executive board member for SEIU United Service Workers West (USWW) for the past 9 years and has been a union janitor in the East Bay for 17 years. Maria came to California from Mexico 28 years ago to find a better life for her and her family. Maria is also a survivor of sexual assault on the job. She was one of the first members of USWW to speak out about her attack while working as a night-shift janitor. Maria and other members of USWW helped pass AB1978, which requires sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention training for janitors and the people who supervise them. Maria also joined USWW’s Promotora program, where she is training to counsel women who have been victims of sexual assault and violence.

Mini Mix'd

Mini Mix'd is a group of youth activists, thinkers and movers. The girls are 9 to 16 years old from multiple Bay Area schools, building community through hip-hop/club movement, music, culture and performance. Mini Mix'd promotes positive self-image practices, challenges ideas and asks questions, works on communication and leadership skills, and, most importantly, advocates for the empowerment of self and others. Mini Mix'd is under the direction of Jenay Anolin, co-founder/director of Mix'd Ingrdnts Dance Company.

Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri

Hailing from Oakland, Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri is a neo soul-hip hop vocalist and songwriter. Heavily influenced by passionate, creative greats like Stevie Wonder, Ms. Lauryn Hill, India Arie, Mary J. Blige and Tupac Shakur, Osunfemi decided to channel music that uplifts, inspires and moves the people. With a name meaning "a warrior woman who sings the blessings of Osun," Osunfemi saw it as necessary to speak about her journey as a warrior on the June 2015 single release of "Warrior Woman" and the spring 2018 "Warrior Woman LP."

Porsche Kelly

Porsche Kelly is a spoken word artist from Oakland. She performs gut-wrenching, heartfelt poetry and is especially passionate about social justice, including fighting against racism, sexism and human trafficking. Her work has been seen in a variety of spaces including Adobe Software, the first annual "Ain't I A Woman" March, and TED Talks. Porsche speaks truth with raw and unapologetic lyrics, inspiring others to rise up and fight for justice.

Rosemary Jordan

Rosemary Jordan is co-founder of Alameda4Impeachment. Alameda4Impeachment is a partner in the Citizens Impeachment Coalition, which includes representatives of cities, towns and counties nationwide that have passed local impeachment resolutions. Rosemary also serves on the steering committee of All Rise Alameda and is co-leader of the End The Tampon Tax In California campaign. She has over 20 years of professional experience in healthcare and aging. She holds a master's in public health and master's in public policy from UC Berkeley and a BA in history from Vassar College.

Surina Khan

Surina Khan is CEO of the Women’s Foundation of California where she leads the foundation’s work to advance the health, safety and economic security of women, girls and transgender people in California. The foundation is focused on building community-based power through investing in community organizations, training community leaders in policy advocacy, convening key partners, and mobilizing significant financial resources. For more than 2 decades, Surina has been a leader in the philanthropic/nonprofit social justice sector, starting with local community-based publishing in New England, then shifting to national and global work on social justice issues including women’s rights, LGBT rights and human rights.